Halfway Heroes Read online

“Seriously? A fitness magazine?” Dariela laughed as they walked down the sidewalk, canned sodas in their hands. Lydia, afraid to crush hers, held it like a baby. “You’re nowhere near like those people. They’re insane. If you want ridiculously strong, that’s where you’ll find it.”

  After they’d run out of quarters and left the arcade, Lydia’s spirits lifted a little. She’d felt out of place there. It had been tricky to manipulate the buttons of the arcade machines without crushing them inadvertently. She thought a few passersby gave her strange looks, but she tried to believe it was due to her being out of school.

  Lydia knew that Dariela had been trying to cheer her up, yet it had only been a temporary fix. The sensation that everyone was staring and gawking at her hadn’t let up. Although Dariela said otherwise, she, too, looked at Lydia differently. She wished she could go back in time and prevent herself from ever going on that field trip. For now, Lydia tried to put the worry out of mind like Dariela had suggested.

  That was easier said than done. Mark calling her a freak echoed in her memory. Now, walking along together, Dariela was holding Lydia’s camera with one hand, browsing through the pictures from yesterday. “Man, if I hadn’t been looking right at it, I would never have believed you could throw a tire that far. I can hardly believe it as it is. If only we had gotten one of you punching Mark,” she said wistfully. “That would’ve been my desktop’s permanent background.”

  Lydia finished her soda and tossed it into a nearby trash can. The girls stopped when they heard a voice say, “There she is! Hey, you!” Lydia spun around, thinking she’d missed the trash can. Instead, she saw the twisted, angry face of the driver from yesterday. She was power-walking toward the pair, a bleached blond guy in tow.

  “This is the girl who wrecked your car?” the guy asked the driver, his eyes pinched in skepticism. “But how?”

  “Because she was walking in the middle of the street!” the driver explained before turning back to Lydia. “Now my car’s in the shop and it’s all your fault! I want the money for it!”

  Dariela cut in between them and Lydia. “Hey! You’re the one who was driving recklessly!” Lydia noticed the guy’s quick, knowing smile. So the girl was a horrible driver. “You nearly killed her!” Dariela continued. “How do you even have a license?” The guy chuckled but shut up when the driver glared at him.

  “Well? Aren’t you going to do anything?” the driver snapped at her blond friend.

  Dariela rolled her eyes and the driver pointed a finger at her. “I saw that!”

  “Good. Now get your hand out of my face,” Dariela said, slapping it away. The driver slapped her hand back. Dariela retaliated by pushing her away.

  The guy stepped in, arguing with Dariela. Meanwhile, Lydia hadn’t seen the driver creeping around behind them until her own hair was yanked back. She turned around, looking the snarling driver in the eye.

  “You will pay for my car!”

  Lydia fought with her, trying to get away. The girl was pulling hair out of Lydia’s scalp. She swung at the driver, who dodged Lydia’s fists. Dariela turned to help. Together, they loosened the driver’s grip and Lydia pushed her away. The driver fell into the street, rolling onto her stomach.

  A city bus horn blared nearby and Lydia saw the large rolling vehicle about to crush the driver. The irony of the similar situation was not lost on her as she leapt several feet in front of the driver.

  Lydia planted herself, faced sideways, and took the brunt of the bus’s force with her shoulder. The pain was much worse than the incident with the car, and she heard the bone in her arm snap. She tumbled back, the broken bone draining the bus’s speed. The cacophony of screaming, tires skidding, and crushing metal was the last thing Lydia heard before the bus stopped. Lydia was on the ground. Different-colored shapes swirled in her fading vision. Faces? People? She didn’t know. Everything faded away.

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